First and foremost some uplifting news to kick off this month’s Update: The Wine Detective Cutting Edge South Africa tasting on 28 January raised over £1000 for The Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory in South Africa.
The Centre promotes peace and social and economic reconstruction of the people and communities who contributed to the struggle against apartheid. I toured the Cape Flats with The Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory last year and found the experience both thought provoking and moving.
Many, many thanks to all those who lent their support, namely those of you who came along, Vivat Bacchus restaurant for being such great hosts and the winemakers, their UK agents and Oddbins, all of whom donated wines to the event.
Flagstone’s The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc 2003 – sugar snap peas and zesty citrus notes set the tone on the nose – a focused and fresh mouth-watering palate with some richer gooseberry and passionfruit notes on the long finish readily demonstrated why cool-climate wine region Elim is attracting winemakers to Cape Agulhas in droves – £9.99 in Oddbins
Jean Daneel Signature Chenin Blanc 2003 – favourite white wine of the night – just awarded 5 stars in the Platter Guide and its first Wine of the Year Award. Plenty of complexity on the nose and palate from this classy oaked Stellenbosch beauty. Rich honey, fruit salad, apricot and creamy butterscotch notes balanced by a citrussy undertow of grapefruit and cooler, minerally, wet wool hints – c.£17 at Swig & Jeroboams
Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2003 – this Burgundian style Cape benchmark paraded its pedigree with great confidence and finesse. Top notch French oak revealed smoky, roasted hazelnut notes and a touch of custard creams on the nose. Its fresh, lemony palate showed beautifully balanced acidity, a taut structure and great persistent on its long, minerally finish – terrific. C. £15 at Swig & Andrew Chapman Fine Wines
The Sadie Family Palladius 2003 – this Rhone blend with a twist (viognier and grenache meet chenin and chardonnay) managed to pull off being both lavish and poised. A nose of nutmeg, quince, apricot and marzipan gave an indication of its breadth and depth of palate. A powerhouse of a palate with opulent, vanilla edged apricot and citrus fruit around a tight, mineral core; long finish, its tannic edge betraying fermentation of 50% of the viognier on its skins. c. £26 in Swig
Raats’ Cabernet Franc 2002 – this Loire variety showed a typically fragrant nose of plums, damsons, cherry and liqorice, dusted with cinnamon. The purity of the nose was undermined a little on the palate by a smoky character, but nonetheless, it showed ripe morello cherry fruit with velvety tannins and balanced acidity. c. £15 in Swig
Bouchard Finlayson’s Hannibal 2002 – forget “a nice bottle of Chianti”, this sangiovese, pinot noir, nebbiolo, syrah, mourvedre & barbera blend provided all the encouragement you need to slice up some salami! Eminently food-friendly with its savoury, appetising palate of mouth-watering red and black fruits the Hannibal is all about intensity of flavour rather than boldness of fruit. c. £14 at Andrew Chapman Fine Wines
Boekenhoutskloof The Chocolate Block 2002 – a wine which does what it says on the tin: rich and pruney with chocolate and pepper accented fruit. This is an expansive, warming wine ideal for curling up with in an armchair or pairing with a hearty game stew. Marc Kent produced only 15 barrels of this Southern Rhone style blend of grenache, shiraz, cab sav, cinsaut and viognier in 2002. The good news is that the current 2003 vintage extended to 81 barrels – c. £15 in Oddbins, but be quick!
Jean Daneel Signature Merlot/Cabernet 2001 – fragrant cassis and blueberry with leafy notes on the nose lend a reassuringly expensive Bordeaux imprint to this wine. Its structured, restrained palate hints at a deep seam of blueberry, cassis and spicy fruit cake flavours – in its infancy, this will go 10 years plus c £28 at Jeroboams
Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 – much more open-knit than the Jean Daneel, with a seductive nose of succulent, ripe fruit majoring on crème de cassis which follows through on the palate. Mocha and cedar notes add sheen to the lithe and long finish; supple and well-balanced. The current 2002 vintage is £19.99 in Oddbins
The Sadie Family Columella 2000 - simply one of my favourite syrahs ever, ever and favourite red wine of the night. The fruit purity of this wine has always bowled me over – fragrant raspberry and loganberry speak of the Rhone and these top notes follow through on the palate under-scored by darker savoury hints and subtle, spicy cinnamon and mocha notes. c. £25 at Andrew Chapman Fine Wines & The Wine Society (subsequent vintages sell for c £40, making the 2000 tremendous value for money).
Sarah Ahmed
The Wine Detective
January 2005
